Unlike Azig’s anger, Hong Chengchou could be said to be patting his chest and feeling very happy:
"Fortunately I left early."
After leaving Luoyang, Hong Chengchou did not take the Xuzhou route. Instead, he detoured from North Zhili to Hebei and took a canal boat to go south, which was much safer.
"It's unbelievable that the little kid from the past has grown to be like this!"
Stroking his long beard, Hong Chengchou felt a mixture of emotions in his heart.
That place in Henan was full of bones and desolation. It was a dead place. He was able to recruit Xu Dingguo, which was already his biggest gain.
It's a pity that Gao Jie is too clever. Otherwise, if the four towns in Jiangbei are now completely destroyed, why should South Zhili be upset?
"The Prince of England has returned with a full load, and the mess in Southern Zhili has been left to me!"
Thinking that Gao Jie was entrenched in Xuzhou, Shouxian and other places, with 200,000 troops, he couldn't help but have a headache.
I don’t know how many people the Prince of England can leave for him?
In the spring of March, the grass on both sides of the canal was lush and green, and the wheat seedlings were sparse. A few farmers were plowing the fields fearfully, and the harvest was obviously very poor.
However, for the Manchus, the biggest benefit was that the canals no longer froze, water transportation gradually resumed, and hundreds of thousands of canal gangs gradually came to work.
At the end of February, millions of tons of last year's autumn grain shipped north from Yangzhou had arrived in Shandong, and grain prices in Beijing fell accordingly.
Hong Chengchou looked at the grain ships one after another, the depth of the water, and the soldiers talking and laughing on them, and he couldn't help but shake his head:
"The army has gained a lot and taken too much captives. I'm afraid Jiangnan will be full of complaints!"
Especially the massacre of Yangzhou City and Luzhou made Hong Chengchou even more dissatisfied. He only cared about the temporary pleasure and money, and did not know how much time it would take to make up for it later.
Carrying two thousand pacesetters, Hong Chengchou slowly descended and arrived at the bloody city of Yangzhou.
Although the fleeing common people and salt merchants returned immediately, the huge city of Yangzhou, with only tens of thousands of people scattered around, could not be filled at all and seemed empty.
The flag was flying, and although Hong Chengchou was sitting in the sedan chair, he could still feel the resentment from the hearts of the people.
However, he didn't take it seriously.
As long as the gentry are appeased, these common people will have no room to resist.
The British prince's battles along the way and the vacant official position are the best comfort.
…
Xuzhou City.
After his revenge was successful, Gao Jie no longer wanted to go south, so he hunkered down in Xuzhou City, built high walls, stocked up on food, and sent out his ears and eyes to inquire in all directions.
The city of Luzhou was destroyed, Huang Degong died, and the news came that Hongguang was captured. He closed his eyes and was silent for a long time.
This is not his mourning, but the sorrow of the rabbit and the fox.
He was the only one left in the four towns in Jiangbei, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty almost surrounded him. This made him sleepless all night and his temper became more and more rude.
Until he heard the news that King Yu was supervising the country in Luoyang, he was instantly overjoyed.
A hint of shrewdness flashed in Xing's eyes: "Do you want to back Prince Yu?"
"That's right!" Gao Jie nodded and relaxed a lot: "Henan is occupied by King Yu, and so is Anqing Mansion. We still have a way out, and we won't be outflanked by the Manchus."
"Furthermore, Prince Yu and I have been under the command of Governor Sun for half a year, and our relationship is pretty good, at least better than Ma Shiying's."
As he said this, he had already begun to think about how he would enrich his life in the future.
Unexpectedly, Mr.
"You know how much you know!" Gao Jie waved his hand and said, "The huge Nanjing court treats me as a thief to guard against me. How happy is this life?"
"Furthermore, although Nanjing has been destroyed, as long as King Yu is still there and can carry the banner of the Ming Dynasty, then the Qing Dynasty's first choice will be him, and I can live a peaceful life for a few days."
Having said this, he touched the woman's slender waist and wiped the oil up and down, his fair and handsome face full of pride:
"Finally, even if we surrender, we can still compare prices. The Manchus and Qing Dynasties will have to raise prices, right?"
Feeling the mud under her body and hearing the man's proud smile, Xing's body went limp and collapsed in the man's arms: "I want to torture others when I die!"
"Hahaha!" As soon as Gao Jie's thoughts were solved, he was instantly full of energy and felt the warmth of the woman. He couldn't wait to undress and take off his belt, and went straight to the bed.
…
Similarly, the news of the destruction of Luzhou City reached Hangzhou City after half a month.
Compared with southern Zhili, Zhejiang suffered very few military disasters and could be said to have escaped for a while.
In the city of Hangzhou, there was the marginalized King of Lu, Zhu Changxi.
Ma Shiying escorted Empress Dowager Zou and ran to Hangzhou City out of breath. Not long after landing, he heard rumors that Luzhou City had been destroyed and Emperor Hongguang was captured.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, he demanded that rumors be banned.
Unfortunately, as time went by, the evidence became more and more dizzying, and the officials in the city could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Ma Shiying, Zhu Dadian, Yuan Hongxun, Zhang Bingzhen, He Lun and others discussed and asked Zhu Changzi, the king of Lu, who was in Hangzhou at that time, to supervise the country.
Ma Shiying even used her status to lobby Queen Mother Zou.
Empress Dowager Zou had no choice but to agree.
Therefore, on March 12, the second year of Hongguang, one month after Emperor Hongguang was captured, and ten days after King Yu was in charge of the country in Luoyang, he issued an edict saying:
"You are my uncle, and you are a virtuous man among all the vassals. In the past, Xuan Miao marched eastward, Xiang and Zheng supervised the country. The ancestral constitution is still there, and you can abide by it now."
The next day, King Zhu Changzi of Lu declared himself the governor of Hangzhou.
Immediately, Huang Daozhou, the Minister of Rites, suggested that King Lu ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor within ten days.
King Lu was about to agree. After all, who doesn’t want to be emperor?
But Ma Shiying stopped him directly and admonished: "Your Highness oversees the country, and the Qing army may turn a blind eye. After all, Hangzhou is far away and Nanjing is close. They are waiting to be unified with Yingtian."
"And if His Highness proclaims himself emperor, the Qing army will probably have to go south. Then all life will be devastated, Hangzhou will not be safe, and the Ming Dynasty will fall again..."
King Zhu Changzi of Lu put his slender fingers on his thighs, and his several-inch-long nails were protected by bamboo sheaths. His square face showed fear:
“We can’t save Nanjing, let alone Hangzhou?”
"In the opinion of the first assistant, what should we do?"
Ma Shiying sighed and said helplessly: "As things stand now, we can only follow the example of the Southern Song Dynasty, hold peace talks for the time being, maintain our strength, and then cultivate and recuperate in order to plan the Northern Expedition."
"Can the Qing army agree?"
King Lu hesitated.
"Now that Azig has returned from the north, no matter who the latter is, he is still better than these barbarians, and peace talks can be concluded by then."
Ma Shiying explained softly: "Besides, the northern soldiers cannot tolerate the southern heat. After a while, the summer heat will hit, and the Qing army will naturally be unbearable. The chance of peace talks is extremely high."
"That's good!"
King Lu breathed a sigh of relief, stroked his beautiful fingers, and sighed: "How great would it be if everyone played the piano and drank tea?"
Ma Shiying was speechless.
King Fu is a womanizer, and King Lu is good at playing the piano. How come there are so few wise men in the old Zhu family?
Fortunately, I am there, otherwise what future would there be for Ming Dynasty?